Adrian A. Durlester

Random Musings Archives

Random Musings Before Shabbat-Lekh Lekha 5762
(Vayera 5762)

Plainly Spoken?

(Note: This is actually a musing written
for parasha Vayera, but it was accidentally sent out a week early!)

"No, I didn't."

It's so easy to say, and it's almost instinctual. When caught in the act,
when caught in a lie, when we're scared to admit the truth, it's an automatic
response.

Big deal. So, faced with an awkward moment, our tendency is to dissemble.
It's an ancient and honored tradition that started with Chava and continued with
Cain and on down the line...to Abraham...to Sarah.

Abraham lied and got caught at it, and yet, in this parasha repeats the lie
and gets caught at it again. Boy are we a stubborn creation.

It's often said that nothing is in the Torah by accident. So what are we to
make of the brief incident of Sarah lying that she did not laugh, and the brief
and to the point rebuke she received (either from Abraham, or from Gd, the text
isn't really clear on that point, is it?)

Let's review. Abraham, good soul that he is, welcomes Gd's messengers into
his tent, and is told that Sarah is to have a baby. Sarah overhears and laughs,
incredulous, as she says, as I am old and withered, am I to have such delight
with my husband, also so old? (One has to wonder if the plain meaning of delight
here is sexual, or if it is really referring to the delight of having a child.
But then, childbirth is painful, a punishment inflicted upon all women for
Chava's error of judgment in gan eden.) The Gd asks Abraham "why did Sarah
laugh?" Then Sarah lied and said I did not laugh. The response, said either
by Gd or by Abraham is simply "lo, ki tzakhak't" (no, because you did
lie.)

And that's it. End of story. No further rebuke, comment, anything.

What are we to make of that. Is this telling us that the incident was
insignificant? That Sarah's brief bit of dissembling was inconsequential? Then
why is it even there in the text?

Might it be a subtle reminder to all us humans, prone as we are to dissemble
in times of fear, stress, discomfort or embarrassment, that there is never any
excuse for lying? Might it be the opposite-a reminder that we are imperfect, and
that sometimes we have to just forgive ourselves for that?

Or, maybe this little irony. In this parasha and a previous one, we see
Abraham lie. Both times, while he's caught at it, and chastised for it, it's not
Abraham that is punished for it, and it's Gd that puts things to right
preventing the lie from causing greater harm than Abraham realized it might. And
now we have Sarah, too, lying in front of Gd. If we read it as Abraham rebuking
her with "no, you did lie" then there is great irony, or similarity of
character flaws (both lied out of fear.) If we read it as Gd rebuking her with
"you did lie" but taking no further action, and still giving Sarah a
son, might it be that Gd was treating Sarah as Gd treated Abraham, annoyed with
the lie, but forgiving it and still setting things right?

But whoa, you say. Sarah lied in front of Gd! That's a big deal, isn't it!

I wonder. Might this be the real lesson of the text-that it doesn't matter
whether you lie to Gd or to a fellow human being, it's still a lie? Is this the
essence of this simple piece of text?

Might the abrupt end of this exchange be Gd's double-take? After all, Gd, and
Gd's messengers, are about to head out to Sodom and Gomorrah and make and end of
them because of their wickedness, which surely includes lying. Might this
unwritten, awkward moment of silence that probably came after "lo, ki
tzakhak't" be an internal shudder by Gd. Here's Gd, bestowing great honors
and favors upon Abraham and Sarah and about to bestow even more in 9 months. Gd
has stopped on his way to offer a fiery and total rebuke to the liars and
scoundrels of Sodom and Gomorrah. Stopped to chat with the two people Gd knows
and loves and is trying to inculcate a sense of rightful behavior in, and has
seen glimmers of success (as in Abraham, hospitality). And then Sarah lies.
Could Gd then have had this brief internal flash of regret, of frustration,
before the hurriedly moving on to deal with Sodom and Gomorrah before getting
angry with Sarah?

If you'll forgive me for saying this, if I were in Gd's shoes, I'd be a bit
frustrated by that too.

But this is all mere conjecture. Reading meaning out of the text, and reading
meaning into the text.

"No, I didn't lie." "Yes, you did lie." A simple enough
exchange, with nothing more added. Yet layered with levels upon levels of
possible meaning and interpretation.

The author of Torah must be pleased, that so simple a thing can so tie us up
in knots, and give us countless ways to interpret and derive meaning. How
clever. And how grateful we should be to that author for it all.